Kraken set to begin critical stretch that will define season ahead of trade deadline
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 26: Jared McCann #19, Oliver Bjorkstrand #22 and Jordan Eberle #7 of the Seattle Kraken carry the puck during the second period against the St. Louis Blues at Climate Pledge Arena on January 26, 2024 in Seattle, Washingt
The time is now for the Seattle Kraken to show what type of team they actually are going to be this season.
The Kraken have 12 games left to play before the NHL trade deadline on March 8. With Seattle currently sitting outside of the playoff picture, those 12 games are going to be critical to determine which path the team will take for the rest of the season.
If the Kraken can keep pace or gain ground on the rest of the teams in the playoff hunt, they have enough depth and talent to chase another playoff berth in a tight Western Conference race. If they lose ground over the next couple of weeks, the possibility of general manager Ron Francis electing to sell at the deadline increases significantly.
Seattle has four key contributors set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season: center Alex Wennberg, wingers Jordan Eberle and Tomáš Tatar, and defenseman Justin Schultz. If the Kraken suffer another poor stretch of results coming out of the All-Star break, Francis could look to trade away any (or all) of that group to acquire assets for the future.
Center Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and goaltender Chris Driedger are also upcoming unrestricted free agents that could draw interest.
The Kraken have a 21-19-10 record through 50 games played, which is worth 52 points in the standings. If you assume the top three teams in each division hold onto their current spots – Vancouver (73 pts), Vegas (66 pts), and Edmonton (59 pts) in the Pacific, and Dallas (68 pts), Colorado (68 pts), and Winnipeg (65 pts) in the Central – Seattle is realistically in a seven-team battle for the two available Wild Card spots.
The Los Angeles Kings (56 pts) and St. Louis Blues (54 pts) currently hold those two Wild Card spots. The Nashville Predators (54 pts), Kraken (52 pts), Calgary Flames (51 pts), Arizona Coyotes (49 pts), and Minnesota Wild (49 pts) are all presumably within reach of a playoff spot with approximately 30 games left in the regular season.
Between now and the trade deadline, the Kraken don't have a single game against a team that's clearly outside of the playoff chase. Seven of the 12 games left to play come against teams that are currently in a playoff spot. Boston (twice) and Vancouver carry the best records in their respective conferences. Philadelphia, Detroit, Edmonton and Winnipeg each are in playoff spots as well.
If the Kraken can successfully make it through this upcoming stretch of games and remain competitive in the playoff picture, they will have shown they deserve the chance to make a push through the end of the season.
If they falter over this stretch, it would seemingly show the Kraken are unable to deliver results consistently enough against playoff caliber competition. That reality could make a decision to reset and plan for the future an easy one.
Moving out Wennberg and Schultz at the deadline would open up a clear path for rookies Ryker Evans and Shane Wright to play full time at the NHL level. Devin Shore, Marián Studenič, Kole Lind, Max McCormick, Andrew Poturalski and John Hayden are all NHL veterans with AHL Coachella Valley that could get the team through the rest of the season.
The results in these next 12 games will likely make the decision for Seattle.